Remains found in Edgecombe County

A hunter found the remains near this dirt road off Battleboro Leggett Road Monday afternoon. (Mat Mendez)

January 11, 2011 8:20:29 PM PST

EDGECOMBE COUNTY --

The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office says a hunter tipped investigators to the discovery of human remains in the woods off Battleboro Leggett Road Monday afternoon.

The man was looking for deer antlers when he found the body.

The State Bureau of Investigation and the Medical Examiner's office are helping identify the remains.

Sheriff's officials worked all day Tuesday to recover the remains, but investigators say they don't have an identity on the victim or even a gender.

The families of two women missing for years have been notified of the discovery.

"We need answers," said Bruce Tucker, the stepdaughter of one missing women. "Somebody knows and they need to come with that answer."

One-by-one the relatives of the two missing women arrived to the scene to meet with the sheriff, who had little news to give them.

"It would be hard not to assume that there's some sort of relation," Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said. "But we don't know, we just started the investigation."

Detectives hope that investigation will reveal whether the remains are related to the disappearances of 10 women in the area since 2005.

Sources say investigators are looking for links between the discovery and the case they're building against a suspected serial killer.

Antwon Pittman, 31, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Taraha Nicholson. Her body was discovered in March, 2009 near Marriot Farm Road a few miles north of Rocky Mount. The medical examiner said she'd most likely been strangled.

According to court records, Pittman is a suspect in at least five other women's deaths.

The remains of nine women have been found - many dumped in the same wooded area along Seven Bridges Road.

Other cases

In addition to Nicholson, Christine Boone, 43, was found near a mobile home in Scotland Neck, Halifax County in March.

March 31, Rocky Mount police said skeletal remains found March 27 were identified as 40-year-old Roberta Williams. People riding four wheelers off Seven Bridges Road found Williams about 20 yards inside a tree line.

Williams was last seen in the spring of 2008 by a family member in Rocky Mount. She was never reported missing because she was considered to be a homeless person.

Investigators said most of the women had a history of drug abuse and prostitution - which likely made them more vulnerable.

Possible Pittman connection

A search warrant filed by investigators said a NC Highway Patrol trooper found Pittman asleep in a car on the day Jarniece Hargrove disappeared. The car was parked about 200 yards away from where her body was discovered about a month later.

Pittman has a criminal record. According to the North Carolina sex offender registry, he was convicted in 1994 of taking indecent liberties with a 2-year-old. He was released from prison in April 1997. He was also once charged with loitering for prostitution.